


Growing Up is Underrated

by ashmandalc



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Character Growth, Emotional Growth, Friendship, Gen, Vincent POV snippets for the most part, Vincent is a good uncle, i know it in my bones, slight bit of gore described due to galian beast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24083350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashmandalc/pseuds/ashmandalc
Summary: A few small looks into Vincent and his growth from just after they find him to after DoC.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Growing Up is Underrated

“ _Um! What?!”_

She stares at the purple furred beast beside her as it chomps down on a wolf’s neck, shaking its head back and forth until blood splattered on the grass. Yuffie lay on her back where she had been knocked prone, awaiting incoming fangs and claws, before this... _thing_ roared and ripped the wolf to shreds.

Right in front of her face.

It appears as a hulking mass of deep purple fur, back bowed as it stayed steady on two hind legs. It’s teeth, horns, and claws drip with gore, and it snarls at the remaining wolves before letting out a roar and bounding after their suddenly retreating forms. Yuffie looks to Cloud, who had turned a devastating shade of pale as he stared at the monster. She looks for the other two that had been traveling with them and gasps when she comes up a head short.

“Where’s Vincent?!”

~~~~~~

When he comes back to camp, after that first time, they’re sitting by the fire. Aeris looks to him with a kind, but curious, look while Cloud stares at him like he’s waiting for Vincent to attack. Yuffie, however, pats the space next to her with a hesitant smile.

“It’s cool, dude. We all have a bit of weird in us. Your’s just happens to need to learn how to brush its teeth. Seriously dude. I was right there. Breath was reekin’.”

Vincent has a hard time wrapping his mind around her. The youngest of them all, and yet...somehow fearless? Does she have a death wish? He decides not to take the spot next to her, preferring to sit a couple yards away in silence, hoping the distance will stop any questions. He only says “I cannot promise you will never be in danger from them. I can only promise to do my best to hold them back.”

“If you’re going to be a liability, you need to leave,” Cloud says firmly, eyes staring right into him.

Aeris scoffs and looks to Cloud, reaching over to smack him with her hand. Cloud blinks and looks at her confused. She frowns heavily and snaps her fingers once before raising a finger to her lips, effectively silencing him into a sheepish pout. She turns to smile at Vincent, a complete opposite approach in mind.

“I trust you,” she says.

“You shouldn’t.”

“But I do. You need this, and we need you.”

“Seriously, dude. Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen. Also, that thing saved my life--” Yuffie pipes in.

“This time,” he mutters darkly.

She pouts before turning her nose up at him and pretending as though he’d never interrupted her. “ _And_ I have a hard time hating on people who help me in major ways.”

“It is not a person. It is mindless and knows nothing of _helping_. It was hungry. So it fed.”

Yuffie’s face seems to fall, her words not helping ease his mind. He wasn’t overly worried. Once all this was done, once Hojo was killed ( _blood dripping from fangs, limbs strewn about his lab, his shriek of terror the last thing to leave his lips_ , A voice provides in his mind, quiet but menacing), he would have no reason to remain in their company. They would be inconsequential. Irrelevant. Better to not think too much of them. They’d likely die soon if they continued their fight for the world.

~~~~~~

“Ooooookay. Wow. Dude. Take a chill pill, and maybe don’t snarl so much in my face? Your breath reeks and I don’t have a breath mint that’s pet friendly on me. By the way, that is a...lovely shade of red on those chompers ya got there. Umm. Thanks. For the save.”

Galian Beast huffs, bumping his snout against her head before lumbering off to the forest. She watches and grins when he turns around, no doubt having felt eyes on him. She raises her thumb in approval, and the beast watches in confusion for a moment, tearing into a raw piece of behemoth, before he makes a low noise in his throat then continues on his way.

~~~~~~

“ _Krrshk. Ninja Princess to Monster Dude. Do you copy? I’m hella tired and need a spot for my feet to get warm. Can you move your leather legs, please and thank you?_ ”

His face twitches in annoyance as he looks to the side to see their youngest member leaning back against the arm of the couch, toes steadily making their way to his side as she grins before a yawn breaks it. With a sigh, Vincent shifts and she thanks him as her toes wiggle under his thigh, and he goes back to reading his book as she plays a game on her phone.

~~~~~~

Upon leaving the mansion for the first time in some 30 odd years, Vincent quickly realized he was desperately behind on world events. The group chattered about this or that as they travelled, and he was left to wonder and piece together their stories until something made sense. Musicians and actors, leaders and battles. He’d lost all sense of time in that coffin, and had a lot of making up to do. However, the most surprising lesson came from the young one, Kisaragi. She was mouthy during the day, but on the nights they kept watch together, she was pensive and more than a little off putting the first time he’d seen her so quiet.

“...Vince?” It’s the third time this week they’ve shared a shift, and the first of those that she’s said his name.

“Hmm?”

He turns to look at her, though she continues staring into the fire, a frown pulling her face down.

“When...when did you go to sleep? Like, how far back?”

He tells her and she hums.

“So you weren’t at Wutai a few years ago.”

“No. I wasn’t.”

She nods and lets a breath out slowly.

“Good. Then you won’t have to be on my list.”

The smile she gives is probably meant to ease his mind, but it does the opposite.

“List?”

Yuffie’s smile dims, but she keeps it up, and tosses another stick into the fire, poking at it with a tip of her shuriken.

“When I was young, Shinra invaded. It was bad. Really bad. A lot of people were killed defending their homes from the army. My mom was already sick before it started, but...the stress of it all...it put her right down. I had gone out to do what I could to help, even though the others kept trying to pull me back in, and when I got back, she had fallen trying to hide some family heirlooms. They said it was just too much and her heart just couldn’t take it. So, I’m really glad you weren’t there.”

He watches her face for a moment before he nods, not commenting when he saw her wipe at her nose, or heard a slight sniffle. He also didn’t take the days for granted where she chirped and hollered, bounding this way and that.

~~~~~~

_They would be inconsequential. Irrelevant. Better to not think too much of them. They’d likely die soon if they continued their fight for the world._

The words echo in his mind from long before, and Gods above, he was so wrong. He wishes he could take that thought back. Bury it next to what had remained of his self doubt. He doesn’t know how he’d make it without them now. They’re all he has in this world, and he wouldn’t trade them for anything.

He sits in Tifa’s bar at a booth, Marlene on one side of him, Denzel on the other. It’s raining outside, and the two are stuck inside with him while Tifa is out to meet a potential new vendor. Denzel yawns before he continues coloring a very detailed fish that Vincent is sure can’t be the standard coloring book for children. Marlene reads a book at his side, mumbling a word every now and then when she doesn’t know how to say it in her head. He helps her sometimes, and she smiles up at him, shoulder bumping against him in thanks, and he feels his battered heart swell just a little more.

He’s never been good with kids. Never had to be; never cared to be. But these two? These two he can handle. These two he would tear the world apart for. These two, who call him their family, and grab his hands if they see him out in public, who have never been afraid of him. He sighs when he feels Denzel droop against his side in the booth, a small snore escaping as his hold on his colored pencil loosens. Marlene seems to feel the same as, soon enough, he feels her drooping too.

He sits in the quiet, listening to rain patter on the window, eyes shut to the world, his arms around their shoulders to hold them upright, and close against him. Denzel shifts, knee bumping against his, and Marlene practically climbs in to his lap to get comfy, her head on his shoulder. They both sigh quietly in their sleep, and Vincent resigns himself to sitting exactly like this for at least another hour or so.

He doesn’t miss Tifa coming in much later, and he certainly doesn’t miss the look she gives him. He wants to glare at her, but trying to be menacing when you have to pat a nine year old’s hair out of your face to do so isn’t quite so threatening.

Tifa offers silently to take them from him, but he shakes his head. He tells himself he’s felt a small chill and it would get worse if they were gone. He pulls Denzel closer, and rests his cheek on Marlene’s hair.

~~~~~~


End file.
